What Shall We Say Then? – Romans 6 – 8

Paul, having set forth the doctrine of Christ in the Gospel from chapters 1 to 5 in Romans, then begins to show its consequences in the next three chapters. He commences by asking a question: What shall we say then? … In the light of all that has been written, given what has just been declared, what is the consequence? What shall we say then?

One towering consequence of the work of God in Christ as set forth in the preceding chapters is the gift of faith. What God purposed, and the Son performed, the Spirit must apply, and He applies it to all those whom God justified in Christ at the cross, by bringing them under the sound of the Gospel, by bringing them to hear the message, the word of their salvation, by which they are convicted of sin, quickened unto life by the Spirit of God, converted, brought to repentance, and granted faith both to believe and to rest in Christ alone for salvation. For all whom the Father chose, and the Son redeemed, will be surely born again by the Spirit, having hope in God alone, which hope finds its assurance in faith.

But faith will be tried, faith will be tested, and it is the battles which faith must fight, and in which faith is victorious, which concerns Paul from chapter 6 to chapter 8. Here we see how sin is overcome by righteousness, how death is swallowed up by life, how the law is fulfilled by grace, and how the Spirit mortifies the deeds of the flesh. Here are presented great foes, great mountains to be climbed, great armies to defeat, yet faith overcomes all, faith defeats all, for Christ’s victory ensures faith’s victory. It is because of the triumphant work of God in Christ upon the cross, that the fight of faith will be victorious, and it is this which gives the believer such hope.

This is emphasised repeatedly throughout these three chapters. Paul presents us with each enemy, each foe, each opponent, which must be overcome for the believer to know salvation, and in each case he shows us in the work of Christ how all the opposition has been answered. Here is faith’s triumph, faith’s hope, for “It is God that justifieth”, so “Who is he that condemneth?” Yes, God’s people in Christ are shown to be “more than conquerors” because of the One whose faith brought in the victory, and from whose love they shall never, ever,be separated!

In chapter 6 Paul’s attention is centred upon that great enemy sin, and its inevitable consequence death. Here he shows how faith reckons the believer to be dead to sin, but alive unto God (Romans 6:11) because of the death of Christ for him, the believer having died with Christ and risen with Him (as pictured by baptism), his old man being crucified that sin might be destroyed and that he might be freed from its dominion, no longer being under law, but under grace (6:14), walking in “newness of life” (6:4), being made a servant of righteousness, having “fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life”.

In chapter 7 the believer’s deliverance from the law and its condemnation is set before us, as illustrated by the example of marriage, believers having died to their old husband, the law, by the body of Christ, that they should be married to another, “even to him that is raised from the dead”. As a result of being delivered from sin, death and the strength of sin (the law), Paul proceeds in chapter 8 to show how the child of God is delivered from all condemnation, being freed from the law of sin and death by the “Spirit of life in Christ Jesus”. It is this life in the Spirit, this new birth from on high, which is made sure to all God’s seed through the sovereign work of God the Spirit in quickening them unto eternal life in Christ Jesus, by which their eyes are opened to see spiritual things, their ears now hear the voice of the Son of God, their understanding is enlightened, they are delivered from darkness into light, from death into life, from sin into righteousness and from time into eternity. Without such a work man remains in darkness, dead to spiritual things, fallen in sin, condemned under the law, captive under sin’s power, having a mind which is “enmity against God” (8:7).

Jesus tells us in John’s gospel that “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3), and how true that is. No matter how much one may study, no matter how much of the scriptures may be read, no matter how much doctrine may be imbibed in the letter, except God quickens us unto eternal life by His Spirit, we remain natural, carnal, darkened by sin, blinded to the truth. How vital then is the new birth. How vital is faith. It cannot be emphasised enough: “Ye must be born again” (John 3:7).

Have you been? Has God given you faith to overcome every enemy of your soul in Christ, or have those enemies overcome you in the deadness of your unbelief?

But what hope there is in this new birth – what victory faith brings! For all whom God justified in Christ are surely born again by His Spirit, are surely brought to faith, having the Spirit of God dwelling in them, the Spirit of Christ – “Christ in you” (Romans 8:10) – by whom they mortify the deeds of the flesh, and are led by the Spirit of God, as being the “sons of God” (8:14). It is this spirit of sonship which Paul considers in the rest of the chapter, its communion with God the Father, its comfort and assurance in the work of God, its victory in Christ, and its absolute and eternally inseparable union with the love of God in Christ Jesus. Oh what a salvation! What a hope!

“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” 1 Corinthians 15:55-57.

In conclusion, having dealt with the victory of sin by righteousness, of death by life, of law by grace, and of the flesh by the Spirit, Paul returns to his opening question from chapter 6:1 by repeating in chapter 8:31 “What shall we say then to these things?”

Well, what shall we say then to these things? What shall faith say to these things?

“If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.

Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:31-39